Page 54 of All Roads Lead to You

“You need to shave. Don’t get me wrong, a beard looks good on you, but it puts mine to shame, and I don’t like standing next to you. I swear, I’m missing a spot of hair on my left cheek.”

I leaned over and looked, then chuckled. “Yeah, I guess we should shave at some point.”

We hadn’t shaved at all while on the trip so far because I hadn’t brought a mirror. Besides, why bother if we were on vacation and camping, anyway?

I ran a hand through my scruff. It felt scraggly. Perhaps it was time to get rid of it.

“So, why Elvis? I mean, yeah, he’s cool and all, but you’ve been super hyped up for Graceland.”

“Mom loved him. She had intended to visit Graceland but never got the chance. Weirdly, it makes me feel less guilty by achieving one of her dreams.” Nick frowned, but I rested a hand on his shoulder, unable to ignore the tingles through my fingertips. “Don’t look sad. I’m happy to be here doing something I know she’d want me to do. This is a good day for me.”

I quickly removed my hand when he smiled. “Okay.”

Nick and I took some pictures outside of the house, which had lush landscaping, and everything was in perfect condition. An elderly couple was kind enough to take a picture of both of us. Nick wrapped an arm around my shoulder, and I did the same as we smiled at the camera.

“Mom and Wyatt are going to shit their pants when they see us smiling and hugging in that picture,” Nick said after thanking the couple.

I laughed as we headed inside. “You’re not wrong.”

Nick looked around the house with wide, dark eyes. “So, this is how rock royalty lives,” he said.

The house was interesting. I wouldn’t have said it was beautiful, but it definitely had a unique vibe. Maybe it had been gorgeous for the period. It had tons of white and royal blue fabrics. Photos of the King and his family hung everywhere. The Jungle Room, where he recorded his music, was hideous but intriguing, with the green shag carpeting not only on the floor but the ceiling as well. But if I had to pick a favorite, it was Elvis’ pink Cadillac the most.

No. Scratch that. My favorite part of the tour was watching Nick with a permanent smile on his face and big eyes I could get lost in. He just oozed with excitement that I fed off of.

After the tour, we had an early dinner at a barbecue place and ate way too much. We stumbled out of there, drunk on protein, holding our stomachs as we headed over to grab Nick’s photos before the place closed.

He feigned like some damsel in distress with the back of his hand pressed to his forehead. “I’m in a meat coma. Carry me, Logan. I don’t think I can go on.”

I chuckled. “Then who’s going to carry me?”

“Hmm, you have a point. I guess we’ll just die together.”

“Sure thing, doofus.”

He elbowed me in my stuffed gut. “Oof.”

“Who are you calling a doofus, doofus?”

Before I could retort, we reached the photo place, and Nick paid for his images with Dad's credit card.

As soon as we stepped out, we found a bench to sit on, and he pulled out all the images in duplicate from the paper sleeve.

I leaned over his shoulder to look at all the pictures he’d taken since we started this trip, trying desperately not to inhale him. I had a camera, too, but Nick was more into it than me, and as I looked at the pictures, he was definitely better at it.

“Oh, here’s that buck. Remember? Damn, that photo turned out amazing. He’s looking right at us.”

“Nice shot.”

It was a closeup, and his eyes were as dark as Nick’s. He was a stunning creature.

“Thanks.”

Every time he went through one photo, he set aside the duplicate. “You can have the extras.”

Nick came to a set of images we took of each other at the last lake during sunset. But the closeup I took of him had my heart racing. He looked at the camera with wise yet sassy dark brown eyes and his usual crooked smile, but it was small. It was like he was telling me a story with his face, but I was missing the plot. The picture represented all that I knew about Nick, not from the past years of being stepbrothers, but from the past six days. I’d gotten to know two different Nicks, and this Nick, right here and now, I wanted to know more of.

I desperately wanted to yank the photo out of his hand when he set one aside for me, and the other slid behind the pile he held.

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